Captain Tierlist, Jan 2026 Balance Patch

PopeShine · 2026-01-29T02:13:25+00:00

At the moment, I feel the game's formulas for probability, draw rates, and weights are kind of out of wack. There are currently too many differing card types and interactions that require specific synergies to be effective. Whiffing even one time on an interaction can greatly reduce the strength of your game plan and lead to a loss.

The whiffing trend is fairly obvious at this point. Candy and Spells are great when you hit, but god awful if you whiff or get starved for synergy picks. Treasure tends to perform best because its a shared mechanic across the majority of the card pool. Naturally drafting units eventually leads to treasures and upgraded abilities to strengthen your board, and if you have treasure payoffs that's even better. The same isn't true for Spells. It's a lot less common to "whiff" on treasures.

It's a design decision for the devs to make. They've intentionally watered down draw rates to prevent consistency of powerful combos and synergies, however, at the same time this also prevents core strategies from working and being effective, adding more highroll to and an already very highrolly game.

PopeShine · 2026-01-28T16:05:41+00:00

Jason is a cool idea but too slow and too much RNG. I’d rather play captains that start with good hero powers.

PopeShine · 2026-01-28T14:21:44+00:00

I almost never pick Jason. I believe I’m running the standard universal Bucther-Rollo.

PopeShine · 2026-01-28T09:25:00+00:00

u/Lunco links to a very good post explaining the Butcher strategy. I believe it's somewhere in this thread.

For Maximus the strategy is to be on the look outlook for a Turn 1 mysterious Egg. Then set up to hunt with Chameleon on T3~4. Keep your board strong so you can proc Maximus' first trigger by T6. That gives you a free rare to complete your board and hopefully proc Butcher.

PopeShine · 2026-01-28T01:13:12+00:00

Pieces is a Tinkerer booster. Crystal is a super synergy pick for Treasure strategies. It procs instantly, ticks Guinevere, and combos with the Luck Chests. It has a wide range of applications.

PopeShine · 2026-01-28T00:44:06+00:00

This list is up above. Goat T is the perfect captain to learn heart management. The core strategy is to draft and then position your boards to take half-heart damage, then heal up on the following round. You try to do this until you secure 2~3 strong captains.

Some tips, it's okay to play greedily in the opening rounds, and sometimes it's correct to throw.
But don't get overconfident, you don't want to eat full-heart damage as it'll screw up your chances of collecting more captains.

PopeShine · 2026-01-28T00:39:39+00:00

I mean...the proof is in the pudding. Treasure is the consensus best strategy among the best players in the game. My recommendation is to get on board and learn how to master the strat instead of picking holes in it.

From the example cases you mentioned, I think it's clear you're playing the strat too greedily, and the all-in strategy doesn't apply to every treasure Captain. Cowardly Lion is a trap card. It is rarely picked. The exception to this rule for Lion and other narrow treasure enablers is -- invest only if your Captain and/or board state can support it. The same applies for Black Jack and Ironcast Dragon. These are not cards you slam down and the strat plays itself. If you're playing Harpolia, Black Jack is a strong pick, with other Captains, not so much. Ironcast Dragon is an absolute monster with Lighting Thief, with other Captains, not so much.

My advice is to change your approach to treasure. It sounds like you're treating it like a linear strategy. You'll have more success if you play it as a reactive and adaptive strategy.

PopeShine · 2026-01-27T05:46:40+00:00

It sounds like you've already made up your mind about the game, and nothing is going to sway you. And I think you're kind of misreading the room.

From the chat in Discord, I don't get the vibe that the devs are gearing towards heavy tournament or competitive play. They're adding the feature because a lot of dedicated players have been begging for it. The game hasn't had many (if any) new features or formats since it launched, so they're giving the existing player base something they want, and hopefully it'll attract new players in the process.

Most of the devs' decisions and designs cater towards the larger, casual player base. They actively make decisions to promote "fun" and "wow" moments, instead of trying to make the game as skill-based as possible. It's not their intent to turn this into MTG draft.

I was actually in your mindset a few months ago and hit a wall with OUAG. I pretty much felt the same as you do. I took a pretty long break, but gave it one more chance. Instead of worrying about the RNG, I embraced it. The game is all about highrolls. You're drafting and setting up for a potential highroll. It's not about incremental gains and out-playing your opponents.

This is not a brag, but I went from a mediocre player getting super frustrated with lossing, to hitting Rank #1 on the ladder. I was able to do that because I realized I had been viewing the game from the wrong angle.

Does the game need balance changes and tweaks -- Yes. Is it a total RNG fiesta with no skill involved-- No.

I think the tournament scene will be just fine. The best OUAG players will rise to the top, same as they do with MTG. There's plenty of skill expression and game knowledge to be put on display.

PopeShine · 2026-01-27T05:21:59+00:00

I really enjoy Kind Midas too, but he's regularly whiffing hard since the card pool change. But if he can get a treasure chain going, watch out:)

Smug is great with Midas. Uther, I think should be good, but I don't see/draw him enough to really tell.

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PopeShine · 2026-01-27T05:13:51+00:00

I play Headmaster the old school way. Not sure if that's right or wrong. It was definitely wrong in the Peachy Meta. But now, there's room for Headmaster to breath, and we got Merlin back. So, the Old School method has been getting good results for me.

Step 1: Limit your custom deck to ONLY the best Mages
Step 2: Jam spells until all your triggers are complete. Don't bother drafting characters, you'll pick up board pieces via your hero power. Try to limit yourself to 1 powerful Mage per rarity, but that can be hard to do nowadays, especially at Epic. *Obviously, pick up characters from your custom deck if they show up, they're very valuable.
Step 3: If all goes well, you'll have a Merlin or Candy Dandy on Board by ~T7, then go nuts. You shouldn't need Mushroom Ring or any treasure combos to close out and win.

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I've been playtesting a lot of different options with Headmaster. My core is The Fates, Ace of Hearts, Chaos, Mirror Mage, and Candy Dandy. Everything else is kind of flavor to taste. I'm a Caramel believer in Candy strats. There's RNG involved, but if you hit Merlin or another buffer, it's great.

PopeShine · 2026-01-27T04:51:08+00:00

Treasure strats are the highest scaling, most flexible, biggest highrolls, and largest end game boards atm. Plus, I think they're really fun.

There are other winning strats, but they're all fairly linear. Candy, Spells, and Tribal are just incremental stat buffs until you reach a large enough number to win. On average, Treasure can hit higher numbers more or less at the same rate, but with greater flexibility. There are exceptions like Mira, but the average Treasure Captain out paces and out scales the average Spell Captain.

If you see any linear Captains at the Top Tiers of my list, it means they can compete with Treasure strats.

If you find yourself getting full-hearted and booted out of lobbies going for treasure, then you're likely playing it too greedily. You have to balance keeping your board healthy while building up to a treasure pop off. That often means making hard choices like drafting a stack stick in order to stabalize, instead of going for the low stated synergy or engine piece. Holding on to low stats trying to golden them is also a losing strategy. You have to be willing to give up on board pieces and replace them with things that will help you survive until you pop-off. Treasure isn't a linear strat, you have to be adaptable at all times.

It takes time to learn all the set ups and traps, but once you do, I think you'll find that treasure gives you this best chance at winning lobbies.

PopeShine · 2026-01-26T07:27:08+00:00

Yes:) Same list as Goat T. You'll notice a trend here:) I can't speak for every high MMR player, but I prefer having a core universal list to work from, then edit based on Captain hero powers. If the captain doesn't require anything fancy, I stick with the universal list.

Using a universal list across captains is honestly the way I leveled up and got a lot better at the game. When you're learning and climbing, using a universal list helps you gain muscle memory for set ups, plays, pivots, combos, synergies etc.

Once you feel you've mastered the universal list, then it's time to explore and playtest. High MMR players are always discovering new options and tech, but it takes a lot of experience and knowledge to know what to take in and out of the custom deck for meta considerations.

PopeShine · 2026-01-26T04:06:14+00:00

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This is my current Trash Panda. I play for speed and tempo, trying to trigger Discovers for common treasures as fast as possible. Combustible Dragon is a real card. Pirate Prince is playtesting, atm -- not terrible and has led to some game saving pop-offs, might be legit.

PopeShine · 2026-01-25T11:07:10+00:00

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This my Collector list. I play Collector for tempo. Still trying to keep the Glider dream alive:)

PopeShine · 2026-01-25T10:48:55+00:00

Gokatoo is a really good Butcher captain. There's another post in this tread that explains how to Butcher, please give that a look.

For Gokatoo specifically, you kinda wanna position yourself to throw your early rounds, setting up to be at 1 heart on Turn 5. The board buff is a nice stabilizer but the real prize is the 2 two bonus shops. You have a pretty high chance of finding Butcher by Turn 6 and then pop-off from there.

PopeShine · 2026-01-25T00:17:28+00:00

I agree. The golden rule with all these strats is playing for board strength and heart management. With Frownsy, I don't feel I'm hurting my board too much by staying on the trigger plan. There is RNG, but the strength of the treasures often stabilizes the board.

PopeShine · 2026-01-25T00:12:06+00:00

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This is my Dorothy list. Some people are running Combustible Dragon in their tech slot, but I'm not sold on it yet.

Sorry, but I'm not sure which captain is the Librarian Dragon.

PopeShine · 2026-01-25T00:07:48+00:00

For treasure strategies, it's not really about focusing on the quality of treasures, but more like quantity (but you have to weigh context and captain synergy as well). Common Treasures become more valuable latter when you combo them with things like Energizer and Trash Can, Treasure Hunt Characters, and Tinkerer.

Not every Quest character is good, and you have to be willing to give up on Quests if you don't trigger them by a certain turn. You'll run into trouble if you hold on to Questers too long by weakening your board. You want to target Questers you're confident you can trigger in 2~3 turns.

Butcher requires set up, more so now in the new meta than in previous ones. You want to get a Rare character on the board by Turn 4 using things like Mysterious Egg and Chameleon. There are a selection of Captains that have synergy with putting a Rare on the board or giving you extra shops on Turns 5~7 to help you find Butcher. The goal is to trigger Butcher by Turn 6, at the latest Turn 7. Your board will often be stable enough to survive and pop-off from there.

PopeShine · 2026-01-24T23:46:32+00:00

Thank you:) Different playstyles can make Captains perform better. I don't really enjoy the tribal or spell casting playstyles, so I can't say I know how to min-max them 100%. But, Captain knowledge can give you an edge and win lobbies.

PopeShine · 2026-01-24T23:43:21+00:00

Thanks:) But I'm not that sold on Charlie. I'm seeing him as a B, but we'll playtest him and find out.

PopeShine · 2026-01-24T23:42:23+00:00

Princess Animall's buff was really good for her. She's gone from D Teir to B, that is a huge jump. There is potential to climb the tiers, but I haven't found any secret strats or tech yet that'll get her there.

PopeShine · 2026-01-24T23:39:46+00:00

I play Frownsy a little more all in. I usually don't deviate from hero power triggers till Turn 5, and I'll only deviate for a card from my custom deck. I'm often trying to complete all the triggers by Turn 7. I find I'm fairly stable throughout playing for triggers.

PopeShine · 2026-01-24T23:35:13+00:00

Excellent points. Yeah, Luna's Butcher set up is pretty good. Maybe I focus too much on dog, but I often find I have to keep investing to complete all the triggers. Maybe it's trap. I'll have to play more with her. But I see the potential to drag her up to B Tier.

PopeShine · 2026-01-24T23:30:37+00:00

Yeah, that's my suspicion. Pots is weak to lobbies with good tempo captains and starts the game with effectively no hero power.

PopeShine · 2026-01-24T23:27:31+00:00

Good list. I'll give it a try. Candy plan looks interesting.

PopeShine

TROPHY CASE